New temporary opening hours for 3 minor injury units
The opening hours of 3 of the county’s minor injury units (MIUs) will change on 16 June 2022.
From this date, the MIUs in Liskeard, Newquay, and St Austell will open from 8am to 8pm daily. This is a change from the units’ core hours of 8am to 10pm.
Dr Tamsyn Anderson, chief operating officer for Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust oversees all its clinical services.
“MIUs are an important part of the urgent care service across the county. We want to make sure they’re open as much as possible; and especially when they’re most in demand. Our data shows most people seek help with a minor injury before 8pm which is why we’ve chosen these hours.
“The change to the opening hours has been put in place to minimise the number of short-notice closures. We know that when we change our availability at short-notice it is confusing and inconvenient for people and our partners who use this service.”
The Trust provides 10 MIUs across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Last year, across all units 90,751 injuries were treated. These included:
- sprains and strains
- minor fractures or breaks
- traumatic wound infections (not surgical wounds)
- minor burns and scalds
- head injuries (where the person had not been unconscious)
- insect and animal bites and stings
- minor eye injuries, and
- cuts, bruising and grazes.
“People who need help with this kind of injury after 8pm will be to access support from Bodmin, and Camborne and Redruth hospitals until 10pm, or from Stratton hospital, and West Cornwall Hospital 24-hours a day.
“It’s important to remember pharmacies in Asda stores at Bodmin, St Austell and in Sainsbury’s in Truro are open until 11pm on most days and pharmacy opening hours can easily be checked online.
“Anyone who has a minor injury or is not sure what NHS service they need should go online to 111.nhs.uk to use the symptom checker or call NHS 111 before they travel to a unit. The service is free to call and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trained advisors will direct you to the best service or will summon emergency help if needed.
“999 is always available for life and limb threatening emergencies, which require the assistance of a paramedic on the journey to hospital. This includes stroke, heart attacks and severe blood loss”, concludes Tamsyn.
The Trust has developed training roles, to allow nurses who’d like to work in minor injury units to undertake the specialist training.